Power to the People: Whole-Body Gadget Charging System

Whether running errands or running a marathon, our body movements can create a lot of energy every day – energy that is basically wasted since we tend not to capture and use it. The Tusk concept would harness the energy of the human body and use it to charge mobile gadgets.

The clever system uses rotary dynamos, rectifiers and linear regulators to create electricity from the repetitive movements of its wearer. The power created by an active person can power a phone, iPod or whatever else needs a topping up.

It’s doubtful that the device, if it were ever to hit the market, would be powerful enough to charge a phone or other mobile device completely using just the wearer’s regular daily movement. But if you’re one of those people who can’t work out without music and never seem to remember to charge your iPod, it could be an insanely useful tool for making use of all of that human-generated power.

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See more in Cybernetics or under Technology. December, 2011.